


Red Stains on Your Lips

by Littlelambred



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, if you're familiar with the persephone/hades relationship you'll understand why
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-07
Updated: 2014-11-07
Packaged: 2018-02-24 12:40:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2581745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Littlelambred/pseuds/Littlelambred
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SkyeWard AU: Grant Ward is Hades, King of the Underworld. When he catches a glimpse of Persephone, he becomes obsessed with her.</p><p> </p><p>  <i>He’d never been selfish before then, but the sight of her… She made him into something worse. She awoke the monster in him.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Red Stains on Your Lips

Grant Ward was never respected, per say. Feared, yes, but never did anyone say his name with any sort of reverence, nothing short of a whisper or a gasp. He was a curse, something that lurked in the shadows, the image that flashed at the shot of a gun or in the glint of a knife.

 

 _Hades_ , they whispered. King of Hell, ruler of the damned.

 

His brothers mocked him. His skin was waxy and pale, and his fingers curled like claws. He smelled constantly of soot, and his eyes lost their shine. Very rarely did he smile nowadays. Zeus said to him one day, “The only way anyone would love a monster like you would be if you forced them.”

 

He hadn’t longed for love.

 

Zeus had a daughter, a beautiful girl who lived in constant sunlight, who breathed and bled, who left trails of flowers in her wake. The world seems to wrap around her, enraptured with her voice. _Persephone_ , they called her, their word for sweetheart.

 

It was as if, suddenly, Grant understood their jeers. He watched her from afar, growing more and more desperate. He became cruel with desperation, anxious to meet her. His chest ached with something unknown. He became obsessed with her, with the way she moved, the rise of her chest, the hum of her voice. She was incomparable, with sun kissed skin and dark hair, bright eyes and soft hands.

 

He didn’t steal her to spite his brother; he did it for himself. He tore the earth open and dragged himself out of the ground in a flurry of claws and hands; he stood before her and watched the flowers wilt in his shadow. Persephone didn’t cringe.

 

“My name is Hades,” he said. “I’ve come to take you away, as my queen.”

 

She regarded him strangely. Up close, she was intoxicating. At that moment, the worlds did not circle the sun- they circled her.

 

“What is your name?” She asked. When he began to repeat himself, she cut him off. “Your real name?”

 

He was startled; no one had ever needed to know his name, only his title. He told her anyway; lying to her wouldn’t do him any good. “Grant.”

 

Persephone smiled, and Grant finally understood the flower’s talk, understood why the souls he judged spoke of her in awe. He took a step toward her. “What about you?”

 

“Skye.” She said. “My name is Skye.”

 

“You are a beautiful creature, Skye.”

 

Grant stole her for himself.

 

\----

 

When Hera found out, she raged. She demanded that Grant return Skye to the Overworld. When he refused, she plunged the Overworld into darkness.

 

Skye had adjusted well; she had a clear head, and she offered him insight when judging his souls. She greeted them to their death with that same smile, that same light that followed her even into darkness. There was no sunlight in Hell except for her.

 

Grant pleaded with her, “Please don’t leave me”, for his was a cold, quiet existence, and she was so warm and bright.

 

She was torn; she loved her mother dearly, and she missed the sun, missed the Earth and its life.

 

Grant begged and begged, but Skye left. She climbed the path, followed the River Styx to the surface and only looked back when she’d reached the end. Selfish, Grant offered her a pomegranate seed, wishing her well. Upon seeing Skye, with her lips stained red, Hera was even more furious. Grant couldn’t have cared any less.

 

Skye, having still been within his borders, was trapped. He allowed her to leave for half of the year, but she was his.

 

Forever.

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-Posted on [tumblr](www.deanwichester.co.vu)


End file.
